Is Anyone Out There Really Surprised By This?

Iraq’s legal system, once one of the most secular in the Middle East, is a shambles. If a “Law and Order” spinoff were set in Baghdad, it would feature police who are afraid to investigate sectarian murders (or are complicit in them, many say), lawyers afraid to take either side of a case and risk the wrath of powerful militias or well-armed gangs, judges assassinated for the decisions they have handed down, and the occasional car bombing at the courthouse.

Two such bombings killed at least 17 people in May alone.

No prizes for guessing who destroyed what was called “an impressive overall legal system, as long as we did not get into the political sphere.”